Fast-track immigration for seasonal workers: FARMS president

As the first of thousands of agricultural workers from Mexico and the Caribbean arrive in Canada, the president of Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS) says they should be at the front of the line if they want to permanently immigrate to Canada.

The organization's president Ken Forth, a Hamilton-area broccoli farmer, said almost 19,000 temporary foreign workers are expected to be placed at farms and greenhouses in Niagara and other parts of the province in the 58th year of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program his organization administers.

Through other similar programs, Forth said there may be as many as 35,000 workers in Ontario during the growing season.